...sometimes its just too much! This morning Pooka decided to wake up 45 minutes before us and kept scratching at her neck, causing her collar to spin around, her two tags clanking together unbareably. A din! A cacophony! If she wasn't scratching her neck, she's scratching her belly, or chewing on her haunches.

This isn't an abnormal thing. EVERY morning, when I let her out of the crate, as she follows me to the door to go out, she pauses every few feet to scratch. I open the door, she doesn't go out, she scratches. I shove her out the door, she doesn't potty, she scratches. After about 10 minutes, she's done (sometimes I grab her in my clutches, remove her noisy collar and scratch her in all the right places, her back legs strumming rhythmically along). Then its Play Time! and OMG-I'M-GLAD-YOU'RE-AWAKE-I-MISSED-YOU, until I force it to be Food time.

But it just bugs me, how itchy she is when she wakes up and want to figure out why (websites have said there are over 500 things that can cause a pup to itch, so sleuthing out the cause is rough)

I knooow people are always touting food allergies, but I really just hope its not. I don't want to start going crazy with trying different foods unless I have to (Pooka is a very picky eater and I am constantly trying to keep her food appealing because she is very darn skinny since I can't say no to playing fetch 10 hours a day, when she brings that ball and begs with it)

Here are my clues, if y'all will help me:
Its mostly just in the morning, when she's been in her crate all night. I do not tend to see it after a long nap (not in the crate)
She has no redness or rashes
She has a flea every once in a while (its started getting warm and rainy)
I probably bathe her more than I should (often every 1-2 weeks, sometimes longer), but use real gentle shampoo and often just use water, if I can, so I don't dry out her skin. (still, why just in the morning?)
She mostly itches at her collar, under her belly and chews on her haunches/rear
I feed her Science Diet Puppy: Small bites in the morning and evening. With varying different wet foods to keep up variety.
We have a long-haired cat.

So, my theories:
Its her bedding in her crate? I have a bathrug and a fleece blanket
Its not moving for 8 or so hours while sleeping
Its dry skin from bathing
Its a food allergy (I would imagine if it was this, there would be redness, and would happen after she eats, not before)
Its a puppy thing
Its a Pooka thing and there's no way to fix it, it'll be fine.

Does anyone else's corgi itch in the morning? My friend has an italian grayhound who does, and he thinks its learned behavior, because it gets the humans attention/wakes them up.